As you read the story "The Most Dangerous Game" do you develop any expectations of how the plot might be resolved?"The Most Dangerous Game" by...

With such a well-constructed plot, Richard Connell has
well prepared his reader to expect some grim conflicts.  In the exposition, for
example, Whitney considers whether animals that are hunted feel any fear of pain or of
death, but Rainsford dismisses this consideration with
disdain,

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"Nonsense....This hot weather is making you soft,
Whtiney.  Be a realist.  The world is made up of two classes--the hunters and the
huntees.  Luckily, you and I are
hunters...."

Ironically,
then, an unsuspecting Rainsford becomes the "huntee" against a cold and brutal and
jaded General Zaroff who seeks the challenge of hunting a reasoning creature, the human
being.  He is especially excited about chasing Sanger Rainsford, with whom the general
is familiar since he has "read all the books on hunting published in Englsih, French,
and Russian."

When Zaroff tells Rainsford that he hunts
"more dangerous game" and he lives "for danger," Rainsford cannot believe at first that
the Cossack means to hunt him:  "This is a grisly joke," he replies to the general's
explanations.  But, when Zaroff shows him how Rainsford's ship wrecked, Rainsford begins
to give him credibility.  It is at this point that the reader expects to read of the
amazing hunt of one expert by another.  Of course, the "game" will be played with great
skill, and either can credibly win.

In considering one
expectations of the outcome, the reader needs to consider the important element of
verisimilitude in literature.  So, given that Zaroff is a
Cossack, a particularly brutal ethinicity, and that he lives isolated from civilization
on an island in order to pursue his raison d'etre [reason for
existing--"I live for the hunt"], the reader will want to evaluate the sequence of
events that follow in terms of their believability regarding his actions.  One thing
about Zaroff that raises some doubt about his allowing Rainsford to escape
after Rainsford's Burmese tiger pit claims one of Zaroff's best dogs.  "I'm going home
for a rest now.  Thank you for a most amusing evening."   Does Zaroff back off because
he wants to prolong the hunt another day?  Or is his allowing Rainsford out of
character?

Another consideration for the element of
verisimilitude, is further in the plot as Rainsford leaps into the sea, but is somehow
able to sneak into the chateau in order to finish the game. Is this also believable
given the details of the story that describe Ivan and guard dogs,
etc.

A close rereading of the story with these dubious
situations in mind will assist the reader in deciding about the verisimilitude of the
narrative and whether the reader's expectations are resolved or
overtuned.